Despite flooding, Iowa’s KWWL-TV broadcasts from the parking lot

KWWL-TV of Cedar Rapids, IA, was knocked off the air last week by flooding but went on the air from outside the station.

Within days of the unrelenting rain, the NBC affiliate, owned by Quincy Newspapers, found the basement of its Waterloo, IA, headquarters under water. With the help of its engineers, the station moved outdoors to a parking lot to do its newscasts. According to station manager Kim Leer, viewers continued to get the news, complete with animated weather graphics.

The Cordillera Communications-owned station serving Colorado Springs and Pueblo, CO, delivered live coverage of the flooding with the JVC GY-HM650 ProHD camera and Verizon hotspot from areas that were otherwise inaccessible.